Do You Want To Build A Go-Kart?
by Seizure-On-Demand
Summary: An alternate universe where Ralph is a prince living under a curse who is forced to hide himself away to protect the one he loves, his little sister Vanellope. Based off Frozen. One-shot.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Wreck-It Ralph or Frozen.

* * *

In the prosperous kingdom of Nicerendelle, there lived a young prince named Ralph, who had a little sister called Princess Vanellope. The two of them were as close as siblings could be. They were the best of friends, and were never apart. They did everything together, but what they loved to do most of all was building go-karts and racing each other around the tracks on the castle grounds. One kart in particular, the very first one they built together, was precious to them, and they'd even signed their names on it. They called it The Likkity Split.

In the early, happy, carefree years of their childhood, neither of them knew yet that Ralph had been born with a curse. His hands, which were already abnormally large, were doomed to grow one size each year from his tenth birthday to his eighteenth birthday. Nothing could be done about it. No one in the kingdom could break the curse, nor could they help or advise Ralph when he began to lose control of his strength with each growth spurt. One day, when he was twelve-years-old, he broke The Likkity Split by accident, and shortly after he nearly killed the person he loved more than anyone in the world, his sister Vanellope. The king and queen, afraid of their son's power and anxious for their daughter's safety, made a rash decision. Ralph had to be kept away from everyone for the good of the kingdom until he learned to restrain himself, and not hurt anyone—especially Vanellope—with his destructive hands.

The king ordered the castle gates to be locked and all the windows shuttered. He reduced the staff and sent many long-time servants away in confusion. Ralph's things were moved to the other side of the castle, as far away from Vanellope as possible. He stayed secluded in his rooms all the time, much to Vanellope's distress. She had been given a potion that made her forget her near-death experience, and her brother's curse. She didn't know what was going on. Why was her beloved big brother being locked away? No one would give her an answer. Her parents simply told her that she couldn't see him anymore. They had to live apart from now on.

But she didn't want to live apart from Ralph. He was her brother, her best friend, her _only _friend. There were no other children around for her to play with. Without him, there was no more tag, no more hide and seek, no more sliding around the hallways in socks. There was no more joking around or playing pranks on the servants. The castle became unbearably dark and gloomy and boring for the princess. Even driving around the tracks in a homemade go-kart wasn't as fun anymore, without someone to race with.

Sometimes, when no one was paying attention to her, Vanellope would sneak across the castle to Ralph's wing and talk to him through the keyhole. She tried to entice him to come out and play with her, but to no avail.

"_Hey, Stinkbrain!  
Do you wanna build a go-kart?  
Come on, let's go and race!  
We never hang out anymore.  
Come out the door.  
I want to see your face!  
We used to be best buddies  
but now we're not.  
I wish you would tell me WHY!"_

No answer.

"_Do you wanna build a go-kart?" _Vanellope whispered pleadingly. _"It doesn't __**have **__to be a go-kart…"_

"Go away, Vanellope," Ralph snapped from the other side of the door.

Vanellope's face fell. She looked like a puppy that had been kicked. "Okay, bye…"

She never stopped trying, even as the years passed. Hidden out of sight in his rooms, Ralph's hands grew bigger and bigger while Vanellope grew lonelier and sadder. She spent her days alone, forever searching for ways to amuse herself and fill in the hole that her brother's reclusion left in her. She fixed The Likkity Split on her own (she couldn't remember how it had gotten broken in the first place) and she drove it around because it reminded her of all the fun times she and Ralph used to have together. Whenever she could, she went to his wing and stood by his door to beg him to come outside and play with her.

"_Do you wanna build a go-kart?  
And drive it up and down the halls?  
I think some company is overdue…  
I've started talking to the pictures on the walls!"_

No answer. Vanellope frowned. _"Ya know, it gets a little lonely, all these empty rooms, just watching the hours tick by…"_

Silence.

"Do you wanna build a go-kart?"

"No, Vanny."

"Okay…fine. I'll…I'll come back later! Don't go anywhere!"

She wondered if he just didn't care about her anymore. What she didn't know was that he always watched her from his window when she sped around the castle grounds in The Likkity Split or some other invention of hers, with a proud and doting smile on his face. But when it sunk in that he would never be able to join her outside ever again and that he would always be a danger to her, his hot temper erupted and something (or several things) got destroyed by his accursed hands in a tantrum that always ended with sobbing.

* * *

"They just keep getting bigger!" A fifteen-year-old Ralph cried in anguish, holding out his shaking hands before his parents. They had grown yet another size after the prince's last birthday. "I don't know what to do!"

"Ralph, _stay calm_," the king pleaded, though his own voice was shaking with fear. "You know what happens when you get too wound up." People were beginning to get suspicious about all the wrecked furniture that got carried out of the castle after Ralph had one of his fits. They were already asking questions about why he was never seen in public, why he never admitted anyone into his rooms except for the king and queen and a handful of servants. The secret of his curse was becoming more and more in danger of being discovered.

Seeing his son's distress, the king reached out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Ralph quickly drew away and backed himself into a corner of the bedchamber. "Don't come near me!" he shouted at his mother and father, tucking his bloated fingers into his armpits. "I'll hurt you! I'll hurt you like I hurt Vanny! Stay away from me!"

The queen covered her mouth with her hands and forced herself not to weep. The king only looked at his son and heir sadly, and sighed.

* * *

A few more years went by, and both Prince Ralph and Princess Vanellope had fallen into a state of defeated solitude. They were both so desperately lonely that their occasional, whispered conversations through Ralph's keyhole were the only solace they had. They were both terrified when the king and queen left them alone to go visit a neighbouring kingdom, and they were right to be so. Their parents were only supposed to be gone for two weeks, but they never returned. A great storm swept their ship away like a speck of dust, leaving their two children all alone to face a cruel world they were not ready for.

Ralph did not go to the funeral. Vanellope, now fifteen-years-old, went for both of them, and she stood gravely by herself between the two towering tombstones, her tearful face shielded from the other attendees by her black veil. After the reception, she went to Ralph's wing and knocked on his door.

"Ralph?" It was hard to keep her voice from cracking. "Stinkbrain?"

No answer. Vanellope sighed heavily and pulled her veil off her face.

"_Please, I know you're in there.  
People are asking where you've been.  
They say 'have courage'  
and I'm trying to.  
I'm right out here for you.  
Just let me in.  
We only have each other.  
It's just you and me.  
What are we gonna do?"_

Fresh tears streamed down her face. After wiping her eyes on her sleeve, she tried one last time. _"Do you want to build a go-kart?"_

Of course, there was still no answer. On the other side of the door, Ralph buried his face in his hideously swollen hands, to avoid looking at all the furniture he'd destroyed in a fit of despair when the news had been brought to him that his mother and father were dead and that he, a monster, was now the king of Nicerendelle…and the only relative and protector of a neglected little sister that he still loved with all his heart.

It was that love that made him refuse Vanellope's plea once again, even though he'd dreamed of building another go-kart with her for years. But how could he ever build one now, with hands like his?


End file.
